Free Reports

Why Your Online Marketing Fails and What to do About it

1. 99 – 35 – 1
99% of the people looking at your property listing online are not interested in that specific property and are not going to contact you about it. 35% of the people looking at your property listing online are interested in other real estate. Your online marketing is going after only 1% of the market!

2. The goal of online marketing.
The goal is to give buyers valuable information with multiple reasons and ways to contact you about real estate, not just a particular listing. 99% of the people that look at a listing online are not going to click for more information or make contact with you to get more information because they decide for whatever reason that it is not the home for them. But, of the 99%, what about the estimated 35% of people that will be buying a home in the short or long term and need help finding the home of their dreams?! There is no reason why you can’t offer them your expertise and services. Your online marketing MUST get this MUCH LARGER group of future buyers to contact YOU if you want a chance at getting a healthy share of online leads.

3. Give buyer’s MORE Value: Local Search and Local Information
Buyers begin their online home search looking at property listings. This is why having your property on as many relevant websites as feasible is always good. But buyers also want information on the neighborhoods, the schools and even unique things like the history, farmers markets, and more so they can make an educated decision in the home buying process. This is where local brokers and agents can really shine and put themselves at an advantage over others in their market. Put these tools and information in front of buyers when they are most likely to ‘convert’, when they are looking at property detail information of your listings on the Internet. Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com do this, you should too.

4. One Click It
People love it when answers come easy. And people much prefer clicking to typing. You know what is hot in your market. Don’t make buyers go somewhere else looking for this information! Include links to predefined IDX searches for a few of the hottest or interesting markets in your area to really get buyers clicking on your online marketing and not typing their way somewhere else.

Include a few searches for the hottest markets in your area with hyper links to your website where the appropriate IDX search will be displayed along with ALL the rest of the tools and information that buyers are looking for online. By giving buyers the easy answers you know they want at a click, you will start to get your share of this 35% of potential buyers and get the opportunity to continue the conversation further increasing your chances of converting more leads.

5. Free form marketing websites!
While Craig’s List, Backpage and other similar websites might not be considered worthy of a broker’s time, the numbers tell a very different story. The number 8 website in the United States by unique visitors with 1.2 billion page views a month Craig’s List is the 800 pound gorilla in the world of real estate related websites sending buyer leads to brokers and agents. There is no other website with as much traffic that gives you so much opportunity to publish ads that directly target BOTH the 1% of buyers looking for a property similar to yours AND the 35% of buyer’s interested in buying OTHER real estate.

6. 4 keys to successful online marketing
To convert the greatest number of online leads, your online marketing should include the following:

Around 6 good quality pictures of the property (Not 2 and not 25!)

Basic information about the property (condition of the foundation not needed here!)

Multiple search tools and local information to increase buyer response (a link to your homepage or a virtual tour is great, but not nearly enough)

Multiple reasons and ways for the buyer to contact you (just an email and phone number is not enough)

The goal of online marketing is to whet the appetite of likely buyers and then give them the tools, reasons and ways to contact you. By following these principals, just like the big corporate websites, you will find, as brokers and agents have before you, that there is a lot of business easily found online.

I am celebrating my 7th year at MaxWell Challenge Realty. I have received constant support and educational opportunities to grow my business. I have enjoyed the weekly meetings, training and the comradery that is evident each day among the other Realtors. I am especially appreciative for the amazing support of both Gary Zimmel, my Broker, and the staff in the office. I could not have achieved my goal each year without their expertise, patience, and professionalism.

Susan Janzen, REALTOR, ABRMaxWell Challenge Realty

I started with MaxWell Challenge Realty almost 2 years ago and have been thrilled with the coaching and real estate training provided by my office. Even though I had no professional background in real estate my broker was up to the challenge of taking a "newbie" and turning me into a confident and successful new agent. I have talked to many other REALTORS over the past months and no other brokerage comes close to the support and training I have received at MaxWell Challenge Realty.